If you’re anything like us, sometimes you’ll use your cloud storage accounts to dump something, then never bother coming back to it. Whether it’s a bunch of screenshots you needed for a project or a document that you wanted to work on using a different device, cloud storage accounts can easily become cluttered with files and folders. That’s where Unclouded comes in. It’s an easy to use file manager that shows you which files you’ve accessed recently, and which you haven’t touched for a couple of years. It shows if you’ve got any duplicates, and lets you empty your trash with a tap.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use the app to clean your Dropbox and Drive accounts. Most of the steps work in the free version of Unclouded, but if you want to delete files you’ll need to buy the premium version. It’ll only set you back £1.15, and if you’re a big cloud storage user it’s definitely worth it.

Download the app

First things first; head on over to the Google Play store and download the app. It’s a free download, but there are some extra features that you can unlock with an IAP. You should try it for free first to see if you’re actually going to need any of the extra features.

Sign into the cloud

Next you’ll need to sign into your accounts. Right now only Google Drive and Dropbox are supported. If you’ve got both you can easily swap between them. Once you’re signed in you’ll be taken to an overview of your account that shows you how much of your storage you’re using.

Check the menu

Tap the cloud in the top-left of the screen and you’ll bring up the main menu. This shows you the various ways you can display all of the files and folders that you have stored in your cloud. Tap on the one that says Duplicates to start cleaning up.

Kill the copies

You’ll be informed if you’ve got any duplicated items. If you don’t, then you’ll get the cheery cartoon cloud to let you know the good news. If you have then you’re going to want to delete one or more of them. Long-press an item to delete it if you’re a premium user.

See what you use

Next bring the menu back up and look for the tab marked Last Modified. This will show you what you’ve been using recently, and more importantly, what you haven’t used for a while. Tap it and you’ll see a list of dates showing a chronological breakdown of your folders.

Go for the year

Tap the items you’ve used this past year. These will probably be the ones you want to keep, but it’s worth having a look through to make sure there’s nothing unnecessary amongst them. You can change the way the files are ordered by tapping the button on the top-right.

Change the order

You can order the various files and folders in a number of different ways. Remember these are the folders you’ve accessed during the past year, so you’re refining a search within a search. You should definitely check which you’ve used most recently, and which are taking up the most space.

Change the look

If you don’t happen to like the look of lists, then you can tap the square button to change to grid view. This is true of everywhere you happen to be in the app, and it’ll remember your choice, too, so there’s no need to tap every time you go to a different file, folder, or view.

Go to the trash

One great feature of Unclouded is the access it gives you to deleted files. Not only can you empty your trash here, you can restore any files that you’ve accidentally deleted. You can only use this feature on Google Drive though, so try not to get trigger happy on Dropbox.

Take it out

You can either select individual files in the trash to delete by long pressing, or toss the whole lot out by tapping on the menu button and selecting Empty Trash. You can restore them in the same way as well, or even send them somewhere else after you’ve selected them.

In the notifications

If your phone goes to sleep while you’re driving you can get back to Navigation mode from the notifications drawer at the top of the screen. Just tap to go to the directions. It’s not the ideal situation, and you should definitely get a passenger to sort it out if you can.

Pick a category

Unclouded also breaks your files and folders down into categories. This is really handy if you know you’ve got a glut of one type of file and you want to have a tidy up. As with individual folders, you can arrange these categories by size, last modified, and so on.

Take it from the cloud

If something’s taking up a lot of space but you’re not ready to part with it, why not download it to your device? That way you’re keeping your cloud open without getting rid of anything. Just tap on a file or folder and it’ll automatically start downloading to your device.